Kuhn bows Polygram pageturner

Ex-exex, well-wishers gather to fete 'Funeral'

LONDON — The launch of Michael Kuhn’s book “One Hundred Films and a Funeral,” about the rise and fall of Polygram Filmed Entertainment, drew a crowd of PFE survivors and other assorted British film bigwigs July 10 to the light and airy penthouse of the Ingeni building in the heart of Soho.

Alain Levy, formerly Kuhn’s boss as president of Polygram, and now chairman of EMI Recorded Music, rubbed shoulders with the Working Title duo Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (wincing from his fractures after a recent motorbike accident). PFE’s former international prexy Stewart Till, “Four Weddings” producer Duncan Kenworthy, helmer Stephen Frears, thesp Robert Lindsay and Universal’s Graeme Mason (also ex-PFE) were among those queuing for Kuhn’s inscription in his memoir.

Wendy Palmer, once PFE’s foreign sales chief, now growing grapes back home in New Zealand, put in a rare London appearance. Former U.K. culture minister Chris Smith, one of the few people to be explicitly criticized by Kuhn in the book, was gracious enough to attend regardless. Book was published July 12 by Thorogood.